KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 4): Datuk Azman Ismail, former managing director and chief executive officer at PLUS Malaysia Bhd, has emerged as one of the contenders in the race to lead Digital Nasional Bhd (DNB), sources say.
The position has been vacant since March this year after Augustus Ralph Marshall stepped down from the role when his two-year contract expired.
Azman was most recently with PLUS from January 2017 to December 2022. Prior to joining the toll highway operator, he was MD of Shell Malaysia Trading Sdn Bhd and, concurrently, the general manager of its retail business, overseeing Shell’s petroleum retailing in Malaysia and Brunei. In his 30-year career at Shell, Azman held key positions in the operations, retail and finance departments.
Speculation has been rife during the past week over who would take over as CEO at DNB after Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil was reported as saying that the new leadership for DNB is anticipated to be announced by Aug 31. The Ministry of Finance (MOF) will be the one to decide who is going to fill the CEO position.
Azman is regarded as the leading candidate to get the job, but two more names — senator Datuk Seri S Vell Paari and former Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) chairman Al-Ishsal Ishak T Kechik — are touted.
According to sources, Vell Paari, son of the late former MIC president and works minister Tun S Samy Vellu, is also a frontrunner whose name has been thrown in the ring to be DNB's new CEO.
Al-Ishsal, who is Communications and Digital adviser, is another potential candidate, sources say. He was the MCMC chairman when Gobind Singh Deo was the communications and multimedia minister between 2018 and 2020.
Al-Ishsal has over 30 years of experience in various industry sectors and served as group CEO at Pos Malaysia Bhd before joining MCMC.
The candidate will be taking over the DNB CEO post at a time when there are grouses that the telcos are not charging affordable rates that they should for 5G services.
The key purpose of the single-network model is to expedite 5G rollout, enabling digital economic activities, and help reduce telcos’ capital expenditures, which in turn benefit the public by charging lower rates. In short, the 5G service rates have to be lower than the current 4G service rates.
DNB, wholly owned by the MOF, is a special purpose vehicle tasked with the country's 5G roll-out. It is currently leasing the 5G infrastructure at a much lower wholesale price to the telcos compared with the 4G network, the costs of which were substantially higher as the telcos built their own 4G infrastructure individually in the past.
The second network is another issue that the new CEO will need to deal with. The government has announced that a second network will be permitted and details will be furnished after DNB achieves 80% 5G coverage in populated areas.
Marshall had led DNB since March 2021 until March this year.
Marshall, who is no stranger to the telco industry, played a key role in helping establish Maxis Bhd, one of the country’s first telecommunications service providers, and Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd. He had earlier served as both group CEO and deputy chairman of Astro.
Marshall also formerly held directorships in Usaha Tegas Sdn Bhd, Astro, Tanjong plc and Maxis. In June, he was appointed as a non-executive chairman at Capital A Bhd’s logistic venture Teleport.